JustSomeGuy

That's another philosophical topic entirely. But to be brief, when we say something is true, what we mean is that it has been proven to be true based ...

No it isn't. Something false is necessarily not true, but something not true is not necessarily false. Something can be neither true nor false. This i...

You're right, that's my mistake. The example I gave didn't accurately portray my intended point. I was conflating claiming something isn't true with c...

First I must apologize: I accidentally flagged your post, and don't see a way to undo it. That's what I get for browsing on my phone. I'm new to this ...

I don't think that's possible, assuming you mean an objective truth. We are bound by our own physical and mental limitations, as well as our own persp...

Ah, I see. I guess the use of the term "spiritual" is what threw me. I haven't studied materialism in-depth, but as far as I remember from learning ab...

I definitely see what you're saying and agree that the rise of religious orthodoxy probably led to the rise of materialism, but individuals always hav...

Am I drunk or did you just say the exact same thing two different ways?

Apologies if this has already been brought up, but you're assuming that an afterlife would have time, which isn't necessarily a given. Unless we're sp...

I will second all of this. I've been casually discussing and debating people on various forums for over a decade, and I've encountered many of these "...

Let me summarize the various arguments you just made: 1. Religion does not have intent 2. Religion caused the inquisition, religious wars and the cont...

I could not have said it better. I'll also add, though, that there is an implication in the argument that the greatest thing Meta can imagine is the g...

There are many important questions in philosophy, but I think this is by far the most important because it has the greatest effect on our overall expe...

I was very hesitant to even engage with you again, and this is exactly why. You are doing the exact same thing you did in our discussion of atheism: c...

I don't even know where to begin. It honestly amazes me that you're on a philosophy forum. You seem to have no interest in reason or logic, and instea...

I don't know much about Jewish mysticism but I do know Spinoza was raised Jewish (until he was excommunicated for his extremely controversial ideas), ...

He really covers a lot, from theology to metaphysics to ontology. And it's all connected. The only real way to learn about it is to read it yourself. ...

So you've read nothing I've said since that statement? Because everything I've said has very clearly been about how guns do not cause people to be vio...

You seem to somehow be misunderstanding every single thing I've said. Violent crime is not equivalent to gun deaths. You've created a strawman argumen...

Calling Spinoza a Pantheist in the first place isn't really accurate. Not only is his concept of "God" far more intricate and complex than simple Pant...

I'm not sure if you were specifically trying to cite the Wikipedia article, but it was the top result so that's what I used. "the level of gun ownersh...

A few more comments on the topic of guns which further demonstrate the point I was making in regards to religion: It has been firmly established that ...

I have to agree with BlueBanana, there are many issues with what you've said here. I'm far from a professor, but I do have a bachelor's degree in Phil...

You're getting into "No true Scottsman" territory by claiming that. The definition of "religious" is simply "believing in a religion". You can believe...

I highly recommend reading Spinoza's concept of God in Ethics. I would also recommend Spinoza for you. Believe it or not, I was in the exact same plac...

That gave me a laugh.

I agree, but you originally claimed that there was objective morality, and what you're talking about is subjective morality. Objective would mean it e...

Those are both subjective, though...we're discussing objective morality.

I came here to say this but you already said it well, so I won't even bother. I will say, though, as to why anything exists at all, that is something ...

Purpose isn't real. It's a human creation. Nothing has inherent purpose. Of course if you believe in God you won't agree with this, so I suppose this ...

You just listed things that you claim are objectively moral without providing any argument or reasoning as to why.

Your opening statement was "I really don't see any reason of why one should act in any way besides because they have a preference for acting in that w...

First off, the vast majority of religious people do "take the good things and ignore the bad". In 2010 there were 5.8 billion religious people in the ...

The next step to this realization you're having is understanding why we need morality anyway. There may not be an objective right and wrong, but there...

To elaborate, humans (like all living creatures) have the instinct built into us to survive. The longer we live the more chances we have to procreate ...

Cognitive dissonance.

I never claimed there wasn't one. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, you seem to have created a strawman argument that I never made. I never sa...

So your qualm here is that you don't believe charleton is an atheist in the sense that I use the term (believes there are no gods), and so I shouldn't...

I remember reading about this year ago when researching various ideas on free will, and this concept really bothered me because it assumes we have the...

It is. Everything we have been taught, from every source (people, books, the internet, etc.), requires us to have faith in the source in order to acce...

It doesn't describe the people you refer to. When I use the term, I use it as it is defined in our dictionaries. I already addressed all this, though....

I'm sorry, but it has become very clear that you aren't discussing philosophy, or contributing anything useful to the conversation. You're here to bli...

You are misrepresenting language. Words need to mean the same thing to everyone otherwise none of us could effectively communicate (which seems to be ...

That is actually another common misnomer. Claiming that all religions are atheist when it comes to all other gods is a misunderstanding and misuse of ...

The irony is that you are, in fact, the one doing this. It is the belief that there is no god. The fact that you aren't comprehending this shows me yo...

I'm not familiar with it, can you explain the principle?

What about our physical limitations? We are finite creatures in a seemingly infinite universe. We perceive only a small portion of reality. Our senses...

I completely disagree. Rationally speaking, it's extremely unreasonable to believe that something doesn't exist simply because we are not aware of its...

I'll second the others saying philosophy isn't about finding "the truth", but also say that you not finding philosophy interesting or engaging is just...

The original statement was worded poorly, I agree, but I have to comment on the atheism issue because I've seen this discussed and argued so many time...